diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
index 9ce5c2067f..e75b144d65 100644
--- a/.github/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -8,6 +8,4 @@
 
 # The release PRs that trigger publication to crates.io or PyPI always modify the changelog.
 # We require those PRs to be approved by someone with release permissions.
-hugr/CHANGELOG.md @aborgna-q @cqc-alec @ss2165
-hugr-passes/CHANGELOG.md @aborgna-q @cqc-alec @ss2165
-hugr-py/CHANGELOG.md @aborgna-q @cqc-alec @ss2165
+**/CHANGELOG.md @aborgna-q @cqc-alec @ss2165
diff --git a/.github/change-filters.yml b/.github/change-filters.yml
index ebf6b45e7e..d3e901aa93 100644
--- a/.github/change-filters.yml
+++ b/.github/change-filters.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 rust:
   - "hugr/**"
-  - "hugr-passes/**"
+  - "hugr-*/**"
   - "Cargo.toml"
   - "specification/schema/**"
 
diff --git a/hugr-core/README.md b/hugr-core/README.md
index 11479c1069..1303f82a83 100644
--- a/hugr-core/README.md
+++ b/hugr-core/README.md
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ hugr-core
 [![msrv][]](https://github.com/CQCL/hugr)
 [![codecov][]](https://codecov.io/gh/CQCL/hugr)
 
+Internal core definitions for the `hugr` package.
+
 The Hierarchical Unified Graph Representation (HUGR, pronounced _hugger_) is the
 common representation of quantum circuits and operations in the Quantinuum
 ecosystem.
diff --git a/release-plz.toml b/release-plz.toml
index 549cd7637f..d67ae9122c 100644
--- a/release-plz.toml
+++ b/release-plz.toml
@@ -1,32 +1,36 @@
 # Automatic changelog generation for rust projects
 
 [workspace]
+# Disable processing the packages by default
+release = false
+
 # Open the release PR as a draft
 pr_draft = true
 
 # Use a custom git-cliff configuration
 changelog_config = "cliff.toml"
 
-# Disable the changelog generation by default
-changelog_update = false
-
 # Enforce adding the project name in the git tag, to avoid collisions with python.
 # (This would normally only be enabled once there are multiple packages in the workspace)
 git_tag_name = "{{ package }}-v{{ version }}"
-
 git_release_name = "{{ package }}: v{{ version }}"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hugr"
+release = true
+
+[[package]]
+name = "hugr-core"
+release = true
 
-# Enable the changelog for this package
-changelog_update = true
+# Disabled until the first version is manually published
+publish = false
+github_release = false
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hugr-passes"
-
-# Enable the changelog for this package
-changelog_update = true
+release = true
 
 # Disabled until the first version is manually published
 publish = false
+github_release = false